For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 92
HENRY JAYNE. Henry Jayne, a member of the law firm of Jayne & Hoffman, attorneys of Muscatine, has long been accorded prominence at the bar and throughout the period of his business connection therewith has ever been most careful to conform his practice to a high standard of professional ethics. He has ever given to his clients the service of talent, unwearied industry and broad learning, yet he never forgets that there are certain things due to the court, to his own self-respect, and above all to justice and the righteous administration of the law which neither the zeal of the advocate nor the pleasure of success permits him to disregard.Mr. Jayne is a native of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred upon a farm in Scott township November 8, 1847. The ancestral history of the family is one of close connection with the colonization of the new world. As early as 1620 William Jayne, the American progenitor of the family, settled on Long Island. The grandfather, Benaiah Jayne, was born in Pennsylvania, in which state a branch of the family had been founded. He lived at Maple Hill in Scott township, Wayne county, and in early life learned and followed the chair maker's trade. When the country became involved in the second war with England, he enlisted as a soldier in the American army. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Whitaker, was the oldest child of John and Catharine Whitaker. Her father was born in 1773 in Wyoming Valley and was one of the refugees who fled for safety at the time of the Indian massacre in the valley on the 4th of July, 1778. He and others went on foot to Broome county, New York, abandoning their property, which, owing to the conflict of jurisdiction between Connecticut and Pennslyvania, became lost to those who abandoned their homes and fell into the possession of the of the state of Connecticut. becoming a part of what was known as the Connecticut Reserve in Ohio, also called the Western Reserve. Following their marriage Benaiah Jayne and his wife established their home in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, where he continued to reside until his death in 1853. His widow became a resident of Iowa about 1865 or 1866 and passed away at Lone Tree when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years. Their family numbered six sons and three daughters : John W., Squire W., William H., Henry D., Justus, Benaiah G., Rhoda, Catharine and Emily.
Of this family, John Whitaker Jayne was born in Broome county, New York, and became a logger and rafter on the Delaware river, being thus employed until 1854, when he emigrated to Iowa and took up farming in Scott county, where he remained in 1854 and 1855. The following year he removed to Muscatine county, where he carried on agricultural pursuits until the opening year of the civil war. In response to the country's call for aid he enlisted in the Eighth Iowa Infantry and served in the battle of Shiloh, during which he was captured. Later in the summer , however, he was exchanged and, returning to his northern home, was elected to the office of clerk of Muscatine county, assuming his duties on the 1st of January, 1863, and serving in that capacity until 1869. He then began farming, also dealing in land and cattle, continuing in the conduct of a profitable business until 1896. In that year he took up his abode in Lone Tree, Iowa, where he conducted an insurance office until meeting an accidental death in July, 1908, when nearly eighty-nine years of age. In early manhood John W. Jayne had married Miss Catharine Gardiner, who was born in Ostego county, New York, and was a daughter of Jacob A. Gardiner, one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war, who always remained a resident of Ostego county, New York, where he died at an advanced age. He and his wife lived seven years beyond their golden wedding and reared a large family, which included Catharine Gardiner, who became the wife of John W. Jayne, her death occurring in 1897, when she was eighty-five years of age. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jayne were devout members of the Baptist church, and the integrity and fidelity of their lives won for them the high esteem of all whom they came in contact. Their family numbered five children: David, now living in Lone Tree, Iowa; Henry, of this review; William, who died at the age of twenty-seven years; Deborah, who died in infancy; and Sarah, the wife of Rev. A.C.Kelly, of Chicago.
Henry Jayne was six years of age when he came with his parents to Iowa. The family lived in Scott county for two years and then removed to Muscatine county, where he has made his home continuously since 1856, or for a period of fifty-five years. He supplemented his common school education by a short course in an academy. This did not complete the period of his study, however, for throughout his life he has been a broad reader and deep thinker, and an interested witness of the signs of the times. He has ever kept well informed on questions of vital import and is usually found where the intelligent men of the community gather for the discussion of important themes and problems. From the time that he was eight years of age until his father went to war he assisted his parent in the preparation of a spelling book which he was editing. While his father was at the front he and his brother aided the mother in carrying on the farm and following the appointment of John W. Jayne to the position of clerk of the courts, Henry Jayne acted as deputy for five and a half years.
This aroused his interest in the legal profession and he took up the study of law in the office of Judge Brannan, in the meantime providing for his own support by doing book work and indexing in the clerk's office for the years 1869 and 1870. When he had mastered the fundamental principles of law, he successfully passed the required examination that secured his admission to the bar on the first Monday in January, 1871, and that he had won the favor of his former preceptor is indicated in the fact that he was at once admitted to a partnership by Judge Brannan, under the firm style of Brannan & Jayne. This relation was maintained until May, 1872, when the senior member was elected to the bench. Mr. Jayne then continued alone in practice until 1875, when Judge Brannan resigned his position as judge of the county court and the old partnership relation was resumed, so continuing without change until the 1st of August, 1882, when the increasing business of the firm required more help and they admitted William Hoffman to a partnership under the firm name of Brannan, Jayne & Hoffman. Again Judge Brannan retired, on the 1st of January, 1887, following his second election to the bench, being one of three lawyers selected in the district for judicial honors. The firm continued as Jayne and Hoffman until January 1, 1904, and the business style has since remained unchanged, although a son of each of the partners have been admitted, Arthur Hoffman and William R. Jayne being now in active relations with the firm.
MR. Jayne possesses a mind of singular precision and power---in a marked degree a judicial mind, capable of an impartial view of both sides of the question. In his practice he is absolutely fair, never indulging in artifice or concealment, never dealing in indirect methods but winning his victories, which are many, and suffering his defeats, which are few, in the open fields face to face with his foe. He has achieved high distinction at the bar, and he deserves it.
Mr. Jayne was married on the 18th of November, 1873, to Miss Ella L. Reynolds, who was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, a daughter of William P. and Harriet ( Chenowith ) Reynolds, who were likewise natives of the Keystone state. The father was a son of Henry Reynolds, who was born in Pennsylvania, March 4, 1786, and died November 19, 1851. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Reynolds was born November 27, 1788, and died on the 11th of February, 1846, while living in Terre Haute, Indiana. The maternal grandfarents of Mrs. Jayne were Arthur and Hannah ( Webster ) Chenowith, and the former died in 1817. William P. Reynolds and Harriet Chenowith remained residents of Pennsylvania until their marriage and on leaving that state, settled at Keokuk, Iowa, while later they resided at Hannibal, Missouri, until warned to leave during the refugee exodus of the winter of 1860-61, owing to the bitter hostility that was manifest in the south against people from the north. At that time they established their home in Muscatine, where their remaining days were passed, Mrs. Reynolds departing this life in 1871, and Mr. Reynolds in 1878. They had seven children, four of whom reached adult age : Mrs. Jayne; Mrs. Minnie H. Betts ,of Elmhurst, New York; Charles P., who died in Colorado Springs in 1902; and Mrs. Mary W. Fitzgerald of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Jayne has been blessed with seven children, although death has entered the family circle. Edwin, the eldest, died in 1903, at the age of twenty-seven years. William R. married Stella Moore and has a daughter, Edith. Howard, who is operating a sawmill at Raymond Washington, married Kathlene De Witt and has a daughter. Arthur, the twin brother of Howard, wedded Margaret Marshall of Des Moines. Roger is attending college at Grinnell, Iowa. The two youngest members of the family died in infancy.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Jayne are faithful members of the Baptist church in Muscatine and the principles that have weighed in his life are further indicated in the fact that he is a Knight Templar Mason. Politically he has always supported the republican party but has never sought office, regarding the pursuits of private life as abundantly worthy of his best efforts. He is man of courteous manners, yet firm and unyielding in all that he believes to be right. Whatever he does is for the best interests of his clients and for the honor of his profession, and no man gives to either a more qualified allegiance or riper ability.
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